Stay Strong
by actlikesummer
Summary: 22 yr old Veronica Kinkirk is the second child to Lucy and Kevin. She is a singer and has left a rough past behind her...or so she thought. Nothing like the holidays to show you how much you need your family by your side. MY FIRST 7TH HEAVEN STORY.


"_Jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell rock. Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring. Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun. Now the jingle hop has begun…"_

22 year old Veronica Kinkirk sang along to the radio as she drove down the highway just outside of Glen Oak, California. Instead of flying, she decided to drive the journey home to her family for the holidays, and she had been listening to Christmas music all the way there.

As she took the exit into her town, her heart started beating a bit faster, from both nerves and excitement. She hadn't seen her family in almost a year due to her music career and she and her sister decided that she would come in early to surprise everyone. She couldn't wait to get home and she couldn't wait to see everyone again. And by everyone, she meant her entire family. And Veronica certainly had a lot of family.

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On her dad's side, she only had three cousins. Her Uncle Ben had married (then divorced) a woman and had a son, named Tyler. Her dad's sister, Patty Mary, had gotten married to a man and had two daughters, Shea and Victoria.

But her mom's side is what made her family as big as it was. Her grandparents, Annie and Eric Camden, had seven children all together.

Matt, the oldest of the seven, had married Sarah and they both became doctors. After many years of medical school they finally graduated and twin boys, Jason and Luke. They were a year older than Veronica, and were truly her best friends. She was also really close to her Uncle Matt.

Mary was the oldest girl in the Camden household, and had married Carlos. She was a flight attendant, and surprisingly this job stuck with her. They had Charlie a few months after they were married, and around the same time that Jason and Luke were born, so were Maria and Lizzie.

Lucy had followed in Eric's footsteps and became a Reverend at their church. During that journey, she had married Kevin, who was a cop. Savannah was born about a year later, and unfortunately Lucy had miscarried twins, and another child after that. After coming to terms with the fact that Savannah would be their only child, whom they loved dearly, Veronica entered their lives and they couldn't have seen it happening in a better way.

Simon didn't have it as smooth as everyone else. After almost marrying Rose, he found out that he had a son named Aaron. He reconnected with his ex-girlfriend Cecilia and they eventually ended up married with two additional children, Asher and Julia. With those two still being teenagers, Veronica knew that they would be the ones to provide all the family gossip that had happened since she had been away. It was their form of communication.

Ruthie, a journalist, had married her high school crush, Martin who was the baseball coach at the high school in town. They had liked each other forever, and once they finally admitted it while she was in college, they were able to get together. Once married, they had three children; Thomas, Declan, Ava (after Martin's deceased mother).

Sam and David were rarely ever apart. After graduating high school, they had gone to college together and then got an apartment together. It wasn't until Sam got married that they finally lived apart. David hadn't gotten married yet, but he was dating.

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As Veronica drove through Glen Oak and couldn't help but feel relieved that she had finally made it home to the most important people in her life. They had saved her, in more ways than one.

She was only three when her parents had adopted her. She had spent those first three years in a home where she had two alcoholic parents and a string of emotional abuse around her. It seemed as though no one cared….until the day her mother forgot her at the grocery store and she was found by Rev. Lucy Kinkirk. From that day forward, her life had changed. It wasn't until she was fifteen that they had any major problems. As she parked the car in the driveway of her grandparents' house she ran her fingers over her tattooed wrists. She had gotten "Stay Strong" tattooed there to cover the tiny scars that resided there. She hadn't had the tattoos for long, but they were a constant reminder of her strength.

Despite the sad memories, she chuckled. She hadn't told her family about the tattoos yet, as they had freaked out when she got the cross tattooed on her hand. She knew they would probably not say anything against it but she couldn't wait to see the split-second shock on their faces when they saw them.

Taking a deep breath, she smiled as she climbed out of her car and walked through the back yard towards the kitchen. She could smell the amazing food her grandmother was cooking, so she knew she had made it just in time for dinner.

Without knocking, she opened the door and saw no one was in the kitchen. However, she could hear many voices from the dining room and chuckled quietly as she realized that not only were her grandparents there, but so were her parents and sister. She was about to go in there and eat when she heard her sister talking to her grandmother.

"Savannah, who did you invite? You know we don't have too much room right now. Even on Christmas we don't have enough room!" Annie exclaimed.

Savannah sighed. "Grandma this person needs to eat here. I know you will be glad they are coming."

Annie shook her head. "Savannah…I wish you would have told me sooner. We don't have the room…"

"I guess I will just go eat in the kitchen by myself then."

Everyone's head's snapped up and Annie smiled. "You're home!"

That started the excitement all over again, that she knew would last the entire time she was home. With a family that big, it would only get worse.

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><p>Hey guys! So I love this show, and this idea has been in my head for a while now. Let me know what you think. This chapter had a lot of information thrown at your guys, but I promise that won't always happen. I just needed to show what the family was like now. Enjoy!<p> 


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